That Smile
by Steely-Toast
Summary: It was more than he'd ever expect, to have such nice guardians. Especially Deidara-san; he'd have to admit he was his favorite of all. K DeiSaso ItaSaso


**A/N: **Hee You all remember doll!Sasori? Yeah well, I sort of continued it a bit anyway. It's just a silly one shot, but I like it.

Sasori, Deidara, Itachi, and Pein all belong to Kishi-sensei.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland belongs to Lewis Carroll.

The storyline, plot, and ideas belong to me, however. I just take advantage of how adorable Sasori is.

* * *

I was a bit upset with what was going on today. Itachi-san had told me he'd take me shopping but he was nowhere to be found. Deidara-san was there in the study, reading his newpaper and wouldn't tell me where Itachi-san was, even if I asked as nicely as I could. After looking all throuhg the house, I came back to the study and sat down beside the chair Deidara was sitting on, peeking over his elbow at the book from over the arm rest. He might've glanced at me, I don't know, but I knew he was giving that smile of his, when he said,

"Give up already, hm?"

I looked up at him then, pouting just a little, "I can't find him anywhere," I huffed, crossing my arms over his, tracing a gloved finger over one of the hands holding his book, which he removed to hold mine instead. I smiled at that, and he leaned down to kiss my forehead. All of his blond hair was tied back today, in a similar style to Itachi-san's, tied at the back of his neck, so none of it fell into my face when he leaned and I was quite happy about that. Deidara-san's hair was quite lovely indeed, but the ends were itchy if they got in my eye. The hand now holding mine was much larger than my own and nice and warm. I loved his hands too, everything about Deidara-san. He had always been the nicer of the thre-- of the two, he had always been the one to make me the happiest.

I suppose now that I think about it-- now that I'm old enough to think about it, I suppose I might be in love with him. I'm fond of everything he does and his smiles, and his voice. Itachi-san is quite nice, too, but Deidara-san is the nicest. He never leaves me, I know Itachi-san doesn't do it intentionally, but Deidara-san always stays with me, if something needs to be fetched or work needs to be done. Of course, I'm not even sure what it's like to love-- the difference between the love I might feel for Deidara and the love I know I feel for both of them.

He smiles again, when my dainty fingers give his hand a squeeze, and he leans back again, eyes focusing on his book, then he flips a page. Normally he's quite happy and all over the place-- another striking difference between he and Itachi-san-- but right now he is being quiet and he is focused. He looks quite serious, but in the nice way, where you know the person won't get mad at you if you interrupt it, and his face is calmed. I like him either way, his features hold either type of expression nicely. I'm staring at him now, and I suppose he figures that I am, but he doesn't say a word about it. He merely continues reading. I'm sure I've read that book before, and a glance at the text shows that I have indeed. It was in one of my Literature lessons, Itachi-san had helped me through it, since the ideaology was a bit hard to grasp without a second opinion. I remember having such fun talks about it-- _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_. It was a silly story if you couldn't figure out the hidden meanings, but it was even more fun once you did and could talk about it.

I briefly wondered if Deidara-san could understand the meanings in it, before he closed the book gently and set it on the side table beside him, and looked down at me. He pushed a bit of my hair from my eyes and smiled again. I really did love his smile, quite a lot. Itachi-san's smiles were rare and warm and gentle, but Deidara-san's smile were always available, and made me feel so special, because I knew he'd never look at anyone like he looks at me. I can just tell.

"Ready for lunch?" He asked then, moving my mind from my thoughts and my eyes from his smile, to meet his. His eyes were so very pretty as well-- a deep blue color, like the sky. I loved them, especially with my own eyes being such a dull gray, like the stormy clouds that would cover up his beautiful sky. I nod, then, and he stands, pulling me up as well. He and Itachi-san are still quite gentle with me, though I'm not treated like a baby so much anymore. I like that, it lets me have a bit more fun.

"I'd really rather we wait for Itachi-san, though," I tell him as we walk through the hallway leading from the study to the kitchen. "I wouldn't want to leave him out. He's probably hungry too." I heard him chuckle and pouted up at him, leaning a bit more on his arm than I probably should've. Still, he carried my weight with ease-- of course I shouldn't even worry about that, both of them can lift me easily still, even after I've grown.

"Don't worry over him, he'll be fine," he touches the tip of his index finger to my nose, the one on the hand not holding mine, in a teasing gesture, then laughing as I cross my eyes and my face scrunches a little, "now now, Sasori-chan," he cooes, "don't mess your pretty face, or it might stick like that." He taps my nose again, then pulls his hand away, before I can swat at him, gently of course, and I continue pouting.

"It would not stay like that, I'm sure of it," I tell him, trying to frown more than pout, but I fear I'm losing the battle, because he leans down again, to kiss my cheek, giving me a teasing look,

"You're so cute," he tells me, as we walk into the kitchen. After that, he lets go of my hand, but only to go and take my apron down from it's hook and hooking it over my neck, then tying the back in a loose knot. I've been learning to cook lately, so I can make then meals instead of the other way around. They said they didn't mind cooking, but I really did want to help. That, and I like to see their faces when they try some of my cooking and tell me how good it is. It makes me feel so special, to know I did something good, that benefitted all of us. Once my apron is in place, he goes to get his, and I slip off my gloves, not wanting them to get dirty, setting them on the shelf by the door, knowing they wouldn't get lost or soiled there, before coming over to the table in the center of the kitchen.

Deidara-san is smiling at me again, leaning on the table with his elbows, at my eye level again. This time, I lean over to kiss _his_ cheek and smile, when I realize I've left a bit of a pink smudge there, and take a cloth to wipe it away. He chuckles again, "wasting your make up on me, hmm," he teases again, then moves a little closer. "What shall we make today, hmmm?"

I shrug after a moment, thinking. What haven't we made in a while? Hm, that was hard to think of. We normally have such good food, in all different varieties, you couldn't remember when you had what. "Well, we could just have bread and jam, that would be a nice lunch." I watch him grin,

"Whatever you like, Sasori-chan," he said then, which was odd. Normally if I say such a thing, he'd comment on how that wasn't a very filling lunch or something along those lines. Why would he suddenly change his mind? Still contemplating this, I move to the cupboard the the icebox, getting the bread and his favorite flavor of jam, peach, and taking them back over to the table. Normally this sort of thing wouldn't require aprons, especially because he takes the ingredients from me and gathers two plates, taking them into the dining room, me following along behind, but I'd really rather not get my outfit dirty. With all the time and effort-- and money-- they spend to make me look so pretty, I'd hate to ruin it. Sitting down next to him at the table, he spreads a bit of jam onto a slice of bread for me and then one for himself, biting into the sweet treat happily as I do the same thing, though I doubt with as much oomf he puts into it. My bites are much smaller and he is on his second slice before I am even done with the first. He soon realizes what we've forgotten and goes back to the kitchen, bringing back two glasses of milk and sets one beside my plate as he takes a gulp of his own. I spread jam onto my second slice myself his time, taking a small bite then a sip of my milk.

"I'd really like to know where Itachi-san is," I try, watching him and trying to appear more innocent than usual. I watch him swallow, then smirk.

"I told you, it's a secret. Just be patient, Sasori-chan, hmm." He was done after his third slice and I made my way through half of my second before setting it back on the plate, pouting at him again.

"I hate waiting, you know that." I was fed up with waiting, I had done it enough in my life, and I hated secrets worst of all. He knew that too, and yet he was still keeping things from me. Of course, I doubted it was a _bad_ secret, he wouldn't keep something serious from me, but I still didn't like it.

"Just wait until after dinner, hm."

I did wait then, because the smile he gave me after he spoke was so nice I'm sure I felt my cheeks grow warm, in a rare blush, that only caused that smile to grow a bit wider. After lunch we went outside to look at the koi pond and looking at the children of the long-since-dead fish that we had named so very long ago, when we still had to be secretive about danicng about in the yard. I hated to think about that time, though, so I didn't, holding his hand suddenly, as I leaned over to look at the fish, knowing he'd hold me steady, knowing he wouldn't let me fall. He would never let me fall, he would always hold me close, though not so close I wouldn't be able to breathe. Not again, neither he or Itachi-san would let me suffer through those thing again. Through the things that haven't been spoken of since Pein-san's funeral, where the only one who cried was me and I still haven't a clue as to why.

Those thoughts were brief however, Deidara-san kept be occupied with happy things. There was a hop-scotch board drawn on the pavement of the drive now, and he loved to just watch me play so gently, knowing I would never be fond of rough sports, sports that boys played. I was happy with this, or with jump rope, or any other game like that. He would play with me, if I asked, but it was silly to see a grown man do such things and I would always laugh at him inspite of myself. Itachi-san would decline, of course, being a bit more uptight than Deidara-san was, though it was quite alright of course, and he would also be content to just sit and watch me while he read one of his books. Of course, that was when he was home, which he wasn't today, and no matter how hard I tried to get Deidara-san to tell me where he'd gone he wouldn't and I was starting to get rather flustered by the time dinner came around.

He could tell, I think, by the way I was eating, that I was getting a bit upset with him. Of course, I stayed polite but I was eating rather fast, to try and get dinner over with sooner, so he could tell me where Itachi-san was, or that he would show up instead so he could explain himself properly, because I'm sure Deidara-san would twist it somehow, to make me laugh because he always has fun teasing Itachi-san. I finished my meal before him, and just sat politely, fidgetting with my napkin a little, waiting. I was beginning to think he was eating slow on purpose, but I could stay mad at him because he was watching me so kindly and his blue eyes were so warm I just couldn't be upset any longer. I merely sighed, leaning back in my seat properly, with my back straight and my hands in my lap (my gloves long forgotten, still in the kitchen), watching him in return, unable to look awayt from those beautiful eyes of his, and his soft tanned face.

He was the one to look away, though, when the door bell went off suddenly, making me jump a bit. He placed a hand over mind, making sure I was okay, and then told me he'd be right back, after seeing what it was. I could've sworn he already knew though, because he had such a mischievous glint in his eye, I could tell, and he went off without another word. I sat there then, alone, worrying my lip a bit after a while, then stopping once I realized what I was doing and knowing both of them would've told me to stop if they were present. Still, it had been more than a few minutes now, and Deidara-san still wasn't back. What had happened?

Suddenly, I gasped as two hands reached around the back of my chair, covering my eyes and hushing me when I tried to move away from them. They were Deidara-san's hands, I could tell just by feeling them after the shock had gone away. They were warm and soft as always, but I didn't like this one bit, not being able to see. He hushed me again, when I asked him what he was doing. I could hear movement around us now, and I wondered what was going on and tried to voice it but before I could, Deidara-san had removed his hands, to let me see the scene that had been set in my momentary blindness.

Itachi-san was standing there now, finally, dressed up quite nicely (and now that I thought about it, so had Deidara-san, for dinner), looking at me warmly from the other side of the table, and there was a cake set in front of me, between us. It had smooth white icing with red roses sculpted from the very same decorating it. Written in thin icing was the message, "Happy Birthday", and then my name in cursive letters right below it. My birthday? Today was... I blinked stupidly, looking back up at Itachi-san, then to Deidara-san who had walked around from behind me, to see my reaction as well.

"My... My birthday?" I said, as if it wasn't obvious, wondering why I would've forgotten something like that, but I suppose Deidara-san had kept me busy quite a lot today and the whole subject had been swept form my mind.

"Yes, your birthday," Itachi-san said, giving a rare smile, "we figured you had forgotten." I could feel myself blushing now, unknowing if it was from the embarrassment of forgetting, or from them doing all of this. There were even candles on the cake; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven... Seventeen candles in all. I was seventeen today, and I had been out playing like a little girl. I had eaten jam and bread for lunch, and had acted spoiled all day.

"Blow out the candles, hm," Deidara-san said, still giving me such a nice smile and I felt my cheeks flush further, "make your wish."

I blew them out then and made my wish. I wished that they would stay with me forever, and that Deidara-san would always give me such nice smiles. That Itachi-san would always be there to discuss literature with and do duets on the piano, and Deidara-san would always be the one to do my make up in the morning, and give me a kiss good night.

That we would never need to care about anything else, only for each other.


End file.
